Here’s where block themes really shine compared to page builders. When you install a block theme, WordPress reads all the template files, patterns, and theme.json directly from the theme folder to power both the frontend and site editor.
When you customize templates through the site editor, WordPress saves those changes to the database as overrides. But here’s the magic – you can export everything back out as a complete theme using tools like Create Block Theme.
This gives you the best of both worlds: visual editing capabilities with full theme portability. Unlike page builders that lock your designs into proprietary systems, block themes maintain the WordPress standard of distributable, portable themes.
The site editor becomes both a customization tool for end users and a powerful development environment for theme creators.